Jennifer Chandler-Saunders buys Doc McStuffins toys because the Walt Disney Co. character teaches her 2-year-old daughter to care for others. “My daughter fell in love with Doc right away,” said Chandler-Saunders,...

By Matt Townsend

Jennifer Chandler-Saunders buys Doc McStuffins toys because the Walt Disney Co. character teaches her 2-year-old daughter to care for others.

“My daughter fell in love with Doc right away,” said Chandler-Saunders, who nabbed a $35 Doc McStuffins medical kit from Toys “R” Us after the toy topped her daughter’s Christmas list.

Dottie “Doc” McStuffins, a 6-year-old aspiring physician who treats her toys with help from her dragon and snowman friends, is making most-popular lists this season. The doll is already flying off store shelves, say retailers, which sell about $10 billion worth of toys in the fourth quarter or about half the annual total, according to researcher NPD.

Based on “Doc McStuffins,” Disney Junior channel’s animated hit show, the dolls are vying with toys inspired by Viacom Inc.’s Dora The Explorer character, long the undisputed queen of the toddler set. For parents like Chandler-Saunders, Doc’s skin color enhances the appeal.

“I’m Caucasian, and the doll is black, so it’s kind of cool kids can look up to someone” of another race, said the 35-year-old mother of two, who runs her own insurance agency in Jetersville, Va.

When Disney executives were pitched Doc McStuffins in 2008, they greenlighted the show quickly because it introduced the concept of nurturing to children’s television.

“It was almost like one of those ‘duh, why didn’t we think of this before’ moments,” said Nancy Kanter, executive vice president of original programming and general manager of Disney Junior Worldwide.

The company made one key switch: changing the family’s race from white to black.

“It’s important to us that the brand and the content represents the world as kids live it and see it, and that is a world that’s very diverse,” Kanter said. “Just the notion that for some kids this will look exactly like their families and for others it will look like what they see in their neighborhoods.”

This year, Disney added a range of accessories, including clothes, bedding and even Doc McStuffins Band-Aids from Johnson & Johnson. The company is also releasing toys aimed at boys, including a blue rather than pink check-up kit, because the show’s viewers are almost evenly split between boys and girls.

For now, Doc’s race and her TV family’s reversal of gender roles — mom is a doctor; dad stays home — has strong appeal for some parents, said Laurie Schacht, chief executive officer of The Toy Book, a trade publication.

“It makes it more real, and more interesting,” she said. “Whether we’re talking about color or women, everyone has come a long way, and it’s nice to see that in our kids.”

Such distinctions are beside the point for toddlers, who relate to the story and character — not what makes adults feel good, said Nancy Zwiers, a former marketing executive for Mattel Inc. Parents’ discomfort with sexy Bratz fashion dolls didn’t prevent MGA Entertainment Co. from building a billion-dollar business. The Barbie brand hasn’t suffered from complaints that the doll’s unrealistic proportions may hurt girls’ self-esteem.

“We adults like to overlay our perspective on things, and that’s not the way kids make choices,” said Zwiers, who now does brand consulting for toy and entertainment companies, including Disney. “Kids are making choices emotionally.”

Doc McStuffins is seen as a role model.

She “teaches manners and how to be respectful and how to be nice toward others,” said Chandler-Saunders. “That’s hard to teach children.”

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